Week 6 Patriots offensive and defensive statistics from PFF

Our friends at ProFootballFocus.com were kind enough to share their quick stats from Sunday's game. Make sure you check out their PFF Edge and PFF Elite products to give you insight, and an edge with your fantasy team. The PFF guys really know the game, so make sure you follow them at @PFF.

Week 6 Patriots offensive stats

The Patriots continue to focus on the vertical plays as QB Tom Brady currently leads the league with 37 pass attempts of 20 or more yards in the air. However, Brady did not have a lot of success with his deep passes against the Jets as he completed only two of his seven attempts for 67 yards and he also saw one of his deep passes intercepted.

RT Marcus Cannon played the best game of his season as he did not allow a single pressure – on 42 pass blocking snaps – for the first time in 2017. Cannon was one of two Patriots offensive linemen together with C David Andrews who did not allow a single pressure against the Jets.

RB Dion Lewis continues to find success on the ground as he had a season-high 11 carries and forced four missed tackles on these runs, the most by a Patriots running back in a single game this season. Currently, Lewis ranks third in the league in elusive rating behind just LeGarrette Blount and Kareem Hunt. Lewis averages a forced missed tackle on every 3.0 carries this season, which is the second-best rate in the NFL.

Even though he dropped a pass, TE Rob Gronkowski was the Patriots’ highest graded pass catcher and Brady had a passer rating of 126.3 when targeting him, the highest on the Patriots. Gronkowski was targeted a team-high 10 times and caught 6 of these targets for 83 yards – including 35 after the catch – and two touchdowns. The New England tight end averages 2.39 yards per route run this season, which currently ranks second among tight ends behind Vernon Davis.

The Patriots offensive line had its best performance this season as they allowed just four total pressures (one hit and three quarterback hurries) on 38 pass blocking snaps. As a result, they had a pass blocking efficiency of 92.1, which is the highest among the 16 teams that have played either on Thursday night or in the early slate of games this week.

Week 6 Patriots defensive stats

Cornerback blitzes were a big part of the Patriots’ defensive strategy as Malcolm Butler rushed the passer on three plays, while he had 11 pass rushing snaps in his entire career coming into this game. Furthermore, Butler has never recorded a single pressure in an NFL game prior to today’s game, but he picked up two pressures (one hit and one quarterback hurry) on his three pass rushing snaps against the Jets.

Butler was also the Patriots’ most frequently targeted defender today as Josh McCown targeted him 10 times, which are the most passes going towards Butler in a single game since Week 7 of the 2016 season. However, Butler was the Patriots’ highest-graded defender with a PFF overall grade of 85.8. This was mainly due to the fact that he allowed just four receptions on the 10 targets and while those went for 114 yards and a touchdown, he also recorded two pass breakups and an interception. On the other hand, fellow CB Johnson Bademosi played on defense for the first time this season and was targeted just twice on 52 coverage snaps.

Linebacker Kyle Van Noy led the Patriots’ pass rush as he recorded five total pressures (two sacks, one hit and two quarterback hurries) on just 13 pass rushing snaps. Also, six other players (Cassius Marsh, Malcolm Butler, Dont’a Hightower, Deatrich Wise, Malcom Brown and Trey Flowers) recorded at least two pressures in the game against the Jets.

Unlike last week, the Patriots were aggressive with their blitzes against the Jets as they blitzed on 38.9% of the Jets’ pass plays, which is the highest rate for the Patriots defense this season. New England was especially aggressive on first downs as they blitzed on 39% of the Jets’ pass plays on first downs.

The Patriots not only called a lot of blitzes, but they were also successful using it. Whereas they recorded pressure on only 30% of the plays when they rushed with four defenders; the Patriots were able to generate pressure on 46.7% (7/15) of the plays when they sent five or six defenders after McCown.